Microsoft Invents A 'Play-Once Only' DVD 740
auckland map writes "Microsoft has developed a cheap, disposable pre-recorded DVD disc that consumers can play only once." From the article: " Buying an ordinary DVD of a new film costs between £15 (E22, $26.40) and £20. Microsoft's new disc will enable the studios to release a "play-once, then throw away" copy for as little as £3, much the same as renting a video or DVD. But unlike a rented DVD, the new disc allows consumers to decide when they watch films and there is no need to return it. The new generation of DVD disc will spearhead a fresh assault by Microsoft on the home-entertainment market." Update: 10/06 03:38 GMT by J : Kinda important to read the followup story.
Here we go again... (Score:5, Insightful)
Another kind of assault... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to mention the fresh assault on our landfills that this disc format will make!
wait.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Play once ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Read once == Rip once
Rip once == Play forever
/sigh (Score:2, Insightful)
if you can play it once, you can copy it. they have to ban all non-DRM enabled devices (i can see this happening) in order to stop piracy. one DRM free copy is all it takes...
lol this will work like a charm (Score:2, Insightful)
Pollution (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow, we're all still trying to figure out ways to make more permanent data storage, and M$ has jumped light years ahead of us to making data storage that doesn't store data. WTG!!!
high waste? (Score:2, Insightful)
Freedom to Innovate! (Score:5, Insightful)
No, much like everything else out of Redmond, Microsoft has merely copied an innovation developed someone else, and called it their own innovation.
They started out copying somewhat useful things, such as CP/M, a BASIC interpreter, on-the-fly disk compression, and web browsers.
Now they're copying DIVX discs. Look on the bright side -- it's proof that they've run out of good ideas to copy.
"Playing" vs. "Ripping" (Score:3, Insightful)
On the same note, will there be some sort of click-wrap agreement to forbid this? If not, it would seem to be well within fair use to rip the discs after buying them for a fraction of the cost of a normal DVD.
The article was a little light on details...I wish they had addressed the more technical side of things.
Re:DIVX (Score:3, Insightful)
Couldn't they have just done the same thing using CD-RW and having the player write zeros over the disc as it plays? Or did I just guess how this works?
Re:"Revolutionary" (Score:5, Insightful)
*Kid screams out in pain downstairs, having tripped and fell, or been punched by brother, etc.*
*Run downstairs and deal with them for 30 minutes*
*Return to view movie again, to find it unable to play again*
Doh
Re:Here we go again... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Play once ? (Score:3, Insightful)
That'll be good for the environment (Score:5, Insightful)
I know they're not giving it away, but all its going to take is a year of these things being popular and the amount of landfill junk would be astounding.
That, right there, will alienate loads of people. Fair use and content control issues aside, this is a stupid, stupid idea from an environmental perspective and a PR perspective.
And I'm sure it wouldn't be cost-effective for them to include a recycling program for it, either.
Microsoft: Buy our Garbage!
Once is all I need (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:wait.... (Score:5, Insightful)
media cartel: "hey, people buy DVDs for £15. Why would we want to sell them for £3?"
Re:Another kind of assault... (Score:5, Insightful)
sri
Re:Here we go again... (Score:5, Insightful)
Please don't take offense to this, but seriosuly, what IS there to like? Netflix is already easy enough. Just drop it off in the mailbox and you're done. I seriously hope that people are not becoming so lazy that they can't even run out to the mailbox to return a movie. Heck, my mailbox is over 1/4 mile away from my house and I have no problem walking out to it.
Re:Another kind of assault... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm more worried about the AOL mountain, you have no choice about getting those through you door!
Re:Here we go again... (Score:5, Insightful)
By the way, I'm *being* sarcastic... (well duh!)
DIVX redux... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Here we go again... (Score:5, Insightful)
Average Joe types are going to hate this - they'll start it, the wife will set the kitchen on fire, they'll hit eject and run to put it out - and come back to find the disk no longer works. Or something like that.
The only folks it will be popular with are the 'pirates' that will stick it in the drive, rip it once, and then watch it any time they feel like it, in addition to sharing it with a few thousand of their closest friends. It might be a huge hit with that crowd, however.
Re:Here we go again... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Here we go again... (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone know how this works? (Score:5, Insightful)
It seems pretty unlikely the media self destructs. Maybe, but I doubt it. Why would a new player be needed if it were in the media itself?
Perhaps it's really a dvd+rw type media, where the player uses a higher power laser to erase the disc during or after playback?
Or maybe they're going to try Circuit City's DIVX approach (nothing to do with the mpeg4 coded, for those who don't remember those days), where the player will phone home.
Or maybe it's something else? Any ideas?
Maybe Microsoft's research teams have turned out something truely revolutionary? Or maybe just another lame idea, as usual?
Unless it really is media that degrades, or even if it really is in the media, if it's not compatible with existing players, then people are going to have to "upgrade" their players... for no real benefit other than being able to get a play-once disc for about the same or slightly more than simply renting a regular disc. So the players won't sell well, so they won't get the ecomony of scale that makes for a sub-$100 dvd player. It's quite an uphill battle. Witness Circuit City's failure... and that was in the early days of DVD when a few studios were releasing some movies in their lame format but not on DVD. This thing probably going to die before it even gets started.
But even in a world of perfect DRM, where movies are only distributed on these play-once discs, and no ordinary DVDs are made anymore, and movies aren't ever distributed in any other digital form.... it's still only going to take one pirate with special equipment to capture a pretty good quality "rip", and then upload to a circle of friends, who give to others, until someone makes it available on a file sharing network.
Re:Here we go again... (Score:3, Insightful)
I suspect they are trying hard to alter ones concept of 'use' to include things which are otherwise not perishable. Like software.
Re:We buy disposable cars, why not DVDs? (Score:2, Insightful)
These one-use DVDs aren't made on the cheap, they're just made to work once.
Re:"Revolutionary" (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:We buy disposable cars, why not DVDs? (Score:3, Insightful)
Thus the pursuit of more durable, longer lasting storage media goes on...
But here comes Microsoft, trying to make shorter lasting storage media?
Preservatives, scratch resistant, stronger, longer lasting, etc...
Everything these days is supposed to last longer......
Why spend all this time and effort to make something last only once, when it should last forever??
Re:Here we go again... (Score:5, Insightful)
And what about this. You get a call on the phone mid movie...get up and get the phone, and forget to pause the movie. Now you want to re-watch the part you missed. Can you?
What about special features? Such as deleted scenes, gag reels, games, etc? How many times can you watch those? I know some DVDs like National Treasure have quite involved little games on them.
What about a power outage? The power goes out 1/2 way through a movie. What happens? Is the thing dead? Does half of it still work?
Seems to me that they still have a lot of questions to answer.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't they mean... (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't they mean a rip-once only DVD?
Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Here we go again... (Score:5, Insightful)
What's that, you say?
Whoops! DivX, here we come!! (And coincidentally, what idiot wrote that article without even mentioning DivX?)Ode to a disposable society (Score:2, Insightful)
Something is wrong with this type of thinking...dead wrong.
A few points to consider (Score:4, Insightful)
Also this could potentially reduce costs for an operation like Netflix
And how about those queues? Netflix only has a finite number of copies of each movie, sometimes you have to wait. With a model like this, potentially, they could ship out an unlimited number of read-once DVD's.
-everphilski-
MS's problem is that people believe they would (Score:4, Insightful)
The short and nasty of it is: People expect to be screwed by Microsoft. Their feeling is that this is what Ballmer and Gates do. When your a monopoly, of course, you don't have to care. But on the long run, that can't be good. If I were working in their PR department, I'd probably feel suicidal after reading this thread.
Re:Here we go again... (Score:2, Insightful)
Why does everyone slashdot think large corporations are full of idiots? What do you mean they still have a lot of questions to answer, do you really think they haven't considered and answered all those questions, or are currently debating them? The linked article is a fluff article giving you the overview and the motivation, not the implementation whitepaper. If you had the right access I promise you those questions would already be answered... maybe not to your satisfaction, but that's not the point.
But please, don't let such things keep you from speculating that they've developed a stupid product which can't handle your phone ringing dilema.
Re:Here we go again... (Score:5, Insightful)
Gotta explain that one to me.
First of all, how many DVD's can you watch in a day? Unless you don't work or go to school (in other words, you just sit on your ass all day), I can't see how you'd watch 3 movies in one day and then have nothing left to watch. I (like most people) am lucky if I get through 3 DVD's in a week! And I just send them back as I watch, so I always have one or two new DVD's on the pile.
Second, the point of Netflix isn't speed, it's convenience. Sometimes people mistake one for the other, but they are not the same thing. I can put a DVD into my mailbox and magically, through the wonders of the US Postal Service, another one appears there in the same spot 2 days later. I don't need to go one inch out of my way or spend one single minute downloading or otherwise dealing with my movies. The whole point is I don't have to go out and buy or rent anything. Otherwise I'd just go to Blockbuster in the first place, so a disposable disc isn't going to help me any.
I'll stick with netflix, but some people will be better served by this method.
"Some" people will be served by almost anything. But what is your definition of "some"? Is three people a "some"? Is that enough to sustain a business? What about 10,000? 50,000? 100,000?
It doesn't matter that there are "some" people out there that would like this. I think it's been proven time and time again that most people have decided that they don't, or wouldn't. There are not nearly enough people interested in this to make it viable.
That's not even taking into account the fact that rental stores have no incentive to carry these things because they cut out a major source of revenue (even BB's "no late fees" promotion really has late fees... you pay $25 or whatever for the movie if you keep it out too long, then a restocking fee if you finally return it), and force them to continuously buy new inventory. Retailers that deal in sales only have little incentive either because the margins are so low. Would you rather sell discs that carry a profit of $5 per unit or discs that carry a profit of 50 cents per disc? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
And of course, there's the incompatibility thing, which basically makes the whole format a non-starter to begin with.
This is at least the third time this has been tried and both previous attempts (that I know of) failed utterly and spectactularly.
(Any other attempts would also have been failures; I just don't know about them if they occurred.)
Re:Here we go again... (Score:5, Insightful)
"The revolutionary product could be on the market as early as next year, with the new DVD players needed to view them."
Sounds like your PC won't be able to play-it-once(TM). The protection is a DRM that requires a special player and probably an internet connection to their servers to get it started. So, as if this wasn't a bad enough idea, now there's the cost of a new player to offset the cheaper DVD advantage. I think MS knows that people won't be thrilled to have a DVD that isn't broken or worn out, but just crippled by our entertainment overlords. However, that shouldn't stop them from selling it to Hollywood. (Sammy baby, it'll be huge. It's the next big thing!)
I also think they want to get there DRM solution out there as quick as possible.
They've said, "...only Microsoft could solve [Hollywood's] piracy problem by making its DRM software a standard across every home entertainment playback and recording device."
Sound familiar? Control the standard and you lock in the revenue. Here we go again, indeed.
P.S. If you want a cheaper, limited-use DVD now, just buy one, watch it, and sell it on Ebay! Who needs Microsoft for that?
Been tried in standard players too (Score:5, Insightful)
Nobody bought them anyway.
There is just that feeling of having your toys taken away. With a rental car, you rent the thing and have to give it back because the next person needs it. Same with video. But if you buy a disk, and it is set to explode after a few plays, you're buying something that is crippled. You don't have to give it back because somebody else needs it, they're taking it away purely to try and get more money from you. Microsoft is used to kicking it's customers in the teeth, but maybe that's why it is stuck in Operating Systems and Corporate Lock-in land.
Even without the player dongle this would probably be doomed. But with it, the system might as well run Microsoft Bob.
Re:Dealing with waste? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:We buy disposable cars, why not DVDs? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Here we go again... (Score:2, Insightful)
Why you ask? Because the fucking lowlifes across the street would DASH over to the laundry room the second they saw someone leave a load unattended and steal it. I was in college at the time, and replacing all my fucking clothes because some fucking tweaker bitch with 6 kids took my stuff to put food on the table (read: to buy more crank/meth) was not really high on my list of "things to do just to show people I'm not 'Lazy'"
Yea some people are lazy. Some people just don't want to make the "window of oppertunity" for shithead thieves any larger than necessary.
Re:We buy disposable cars, why not DVDs? (Score:1, Insightful)
next thing you know, bobbie-joe the hippie will be petitioning congress for the "single use" car to try to get people on the bus.
Then you'll get Boeing all excited about pushing single use jumbo-jets. You think safety is iffy now? just wait.
Re:Here we go again... (Score:2, Insightful)
Other than having to get a new disc for each and every customer, that is.
Re:Here we go again... (Score:3, Insightful)
We just don't take into account all of the effort we put into being lazy. These discs that blow up after being used for example. Someone has to go out and pick it up, bring it home, and then after throw it away. That's a lot more work than going to your computer and having Netflix delivered to your mailbox, or downloading the movie from BitTorrent. And all the wasted effort that went into making these worthless disks, well, that just makes me mad that so many people contributed to something so unimportant and even destructive. I happen to feel the same way about people who make cigarettes. In fact, these disks are a lot like cigarettes. They cost everyone too much, they burn once, then you toss them away, and probably get cancer from them.
Re:Here we go again... (Score:2, Insightful)
Paying a premium for the convenience of not having to go back to the store.
Having to take out the trash when it's full of stuff you otherwise could've kept.
Going to the store, buying your favorite movie, and then finding out that you can only watch it once.
Not really saving much time not returning the DVD because you'll just go back and rent another one next week.
And if you own a video store, making less revenue since now you have to keep buying DVDs - and because people are buying disposable DVDs for $4-5 and ripping them.
Re:Another kind of assault... (Score:3, Insightful)
I guess in theory tax revenue from such an scheme could cause other taxes to be lowered (ha, ha, good one) or could support vital programs (wow I'm on fire today) such that it wouldn't be an actual increased burden in the aggregate.
Quoth parent: "Any tax large enough to significantly impact the companies bottom line (assuming that demand isn't too elastic) will probably be enough to make the product not worth making in the first hand." I thought that was the point. Make it economically less viable to produce disposable products by making producers pay for the disposal.
I think a big problem with such a proposal is that it would require a precise definition of disposable goods. That definition would be crafted by legislators influenced by corporate lobbyists, and even if it was constructed entirely in good faith would almost surely contain both loopholes allowing the people it was intending to tax to walk away scot-free, and apply in other areas for which it was never intended.
Simple solution. (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh great! (Score:3, Insightful)
This idea floats by over and over again because if people would actually accept it, the profit potential is enormous. Of course if people would just pay me $100 for my autograph, the profit poential would be enormous.
Re:We buy disposable cars, why not DVDs? (Score:2, Insightful)
Unless, of course, they provide a way for the average consumer to melt their play-once dvds into fuel for their car.
Re:Various observations: (Score:3, Insightful)
"Microsoft invents a 'one-play only' DVD to combat Hollywood piracy"
First the big threat to the survival of the movie industry was crappy-ass copies of mini-camcorder tapes shot in theaters. They solved that problem with night vision goggles, stiff fines and jail sentences. Still ignoring the fact that 80% of unauthorized copies come from originals leaked by Hollywood insiders, the new danger to the industry now comes from the DVD buyer's ability to watch a movie more than once.
Absolutely Pathetic.
Lazy? Try CRAZY (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Here we go again... (Score:4, Insightful)
One-Time Viewing (Score:5, Insightful)
Me, who sometimes falls asleep watching one..."You mean I have to buy ANOTHER disc?????"
Ah, and the wonderful coordinating of family viewing times, especially if both you and your spouse want to see it, but can't quite get your schedules worked out. Oh, and one or both falling asleep right about 2/3 through it.
Oh, yeah this technology will just fly off the shelves. I can't wait...